Kum Nye, Level 1 - Self-Study Video Program
based on Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche’s book
Kum Nye – A Tibetan Yoga
with Arnaud Maitland
Session Four: Creating Inner Space (1hr 11min)
After activating the flow of feelings with physical action, we then slow down and transition to stillness. Focusing on stillness loosens us up and expands our inner experience, and recovers our natural flow of energy. Our energy body is not limited to the constraints of the physical body; therefore, once relaxed we can expend our inner space.
The next step is stimulating our energy, pushing it further out into the surrounding space. This process of going inward and outward at the same time expands vital energy. The pull and push of compacting and expanding forces serve as an internal massage.
The key to integration is noticing feelings and sensations. When feelings flow freely in our body, we do not suffer. It is our thoughts about the feelings, our interpretations of them, our labels that stir up emotions, and cause suffering. As we practice, we become more flexible and recover faster from emotional fluctuations. When at ease, everything falls into place and life unfolds as it should, sustaining us in a healthy and happy state. Kum Nye is a path of human development.
When we restrict our feelings, we go outside of ourselves and lose our connection to inner knowing. We think a partner or a religion or anything else we think would fill the hole in our hearts. We look for things outside of our self to fulfill us give us what we are lacking. Awareness of feelings opens the door to a universal body of knowledge. Learning to activate feelings allows us to participate in infinitely complex and interdependent relationships.
Exercises: #106 Trinity of practice: breath, energy, and awareness, #107 Expanding inner energy.
Session Five: Hidden parts of ourselves: (1hr 15min)
As children, we conform to the culture of the family and the society we that we are raised. As we grow older, we take on an identity; foster a personality and self-definitions. Through this process, we lose our wholeness. To find our place in society, we have to give up aspects of ourselves that others find unacceptable. We must compromise parts of our true self and conform to social conditioning. Constraining ourselves is the price we pay for belonging, for fitting in.
In Kum Nye, we ask what we are, not who we. The key to integration is energizing our whole being, bringing all parts of ourselves to life. The second level of Kum Nye relaxation leads us deeper into ourselves. As we expand our feelings, we encounter dense areas. These areas hold potential energy that was suppressed at some point in our lives. Exploration of these dormant areas of energy stored in the body reveals long-forgotten aspects of ourselves. Re-acquainting with our undeveloped potential allows us to get to know ourselves better.
Looking inward is an opportunity to notice what is lurking in our subconscious. We have the chance to develop a different aspect of ourselves. We do it by noticing the sensation in an area in the body and letting the breath follow there. The energy of the breath and the feelings begin to comingle and express inner knowing.
Exercises: #21 Healing body & mind, #33 Energizing the lower body, #29 Clear light, #28 Body of knowledge.
Session Six: Staying with Experience: (48min)
After we feel, expand, and follow our energy, we want to go deeper in and stay with the experience, explore unknown areas. When we hit trigger points that activate our defense mechanisms, we have to go beyond our comfort zone to find our hidden potential. The density we sense is a holding that limits us in our relationships, in our work, in being who we want to be. As the inner environment experience begins to ripple out, it awakens dormant areas. A transformation occurs once we unravel the pact to conceal our true being.
Suppressed areas of ourselves do not participate in life. Being inactive, they inhibit our ability to express ourselves fully. Through this practice, we recall our original inclinations, things we wanted to do but had to give up or hide.
Usually, the dense areas will feel like pain, anger, coldness, shyness, anger, shame, or guilt. We stay with it, go deeper, stay focused, connected to the experience. Whatever we bring our intention to comes-to-light. By becoming aware, we touch ourselves deeply and open space for things to unravel. Staying with feelings allows them to ripple out and expand so that we become open, empty, and light. What was rigid begins to flow, then we can embody the energy and project it outwards.
Exercises: #16 Touching feelings, #46 Refreshing energy.
For an in-depth interview about Kum Nye, please click here:
We recommend A Line by Line Reading plus commentary by Arnaud Maitland of Rinpoche’s entire first Kum Nye book (about thirty hours).